Loosjes, Cornelis (1723-1792)

Cornelis Loosjes was a son of Adriaan Loosjes and Guurtje Klaasd. Visser was born 28 January 1723 at West-Zaandam and died 5 January 1792 at Haarlem. He was trained for the ministry at the Amsterdam Mennonite Lamist Seminary 1742-1744 and served as a preacher of the congregations of Gouda 1744-1751, Oost-Zaandam 1751-1763, and Haarlem, Peuzelaarsteeg 1763-1784, and the united Haarlem congregation 1784 until his death. During his Oost-Zaandam period there was some excitement because of his rather liberal ideas. Especially the fact that in 1785 he had baptized and introduced into the ministry at BeverwijkAnthony van der Os, a former Reformed minister who was excommunicated from the Reformed Church because of his liberal tendencies, caused quite a stir and resulted in a large number of pamphlets against both van der Os and Loosjes. Loosjes was keenly interested in Dutch literature; he was a good friend of the well-known authors Betje Wolff and Aagje Deken, and in 1761 founded the Vaderlandsche Letteroefeningen, a literary periodical which soon became very influential, particularly by its book reviews. Loosjes was married to Fijtje van Wummenum.